Monday, August 26, 2024

What Is an Activist Investor?

 

What Is an Activist Investor?

An activist investor, typically a specialized hedge fund, buys a significant minority stake in a publicly traded company in order to change how it is run.

The activist investor's goals may be as modest as advising company management or as ambitious as forcing the sale of the company, divestitures or restructuring, or replacing the board of directors.

Unlike private equity firms that buy and restructure companies in order to profit when they are resold, activist investors seldom acquire full or majority stakes.1 Instead, they use public communications and private discussions to win over other shareholders and company insiders. When such efforts fail, an activist investor may pursue a proxy contest to elect new directors in order to force the company to meet their demands.

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